It was 53 years ago ……. the music was good … the sun shone ….. and we were all happy

Today I came across this poster.

That poster, 1970

And in a trice I was back 53 years ago with friends wondering what to do on an indifferent Friday night in late August.

The usual haunts were discarded, and someone mentioned the Isle of Wight Festival, and without much thinking, other than to collect sleeping bags we were off in Tony Behan’s car, heading out of London in the late evening for the coast.

Some where on that hill was me, 1970

The rest really is a blur.

On arrival we found that a section of the festival was camped on a hill above the site, it was free and to my shame we opted to camp three.

Memories are vague with the passage of half a century, but I remember falling asleep to the sound of the Doors and marvelling at heaps of camp fires dotted across the hillside which illuminated the night sky.

Alas ours was a but a short stay, Tony had to be back in London for work on the Monday and so my one real experience of a festival and one of the legendary ones, was a day and a night.

To which when my lads ask, “What did you do at the Festival?” I can only ruefully reply I was a “Hippy for a day”.

But it was memorable and allowed me to bore friends with stories of the event as we watched the film Woodstock on a day when we should have been in lectures.

And I might say added to my image with our kids of something more than just Dad, the teller of silly stories who forgets things and always managed to ruin their best tee shirts in the washing machine.

Me, 1970

I could go on about the significance of the event, the huge collection of talent that was on display or the awful conditions down by the latrines.

But I won’t other than to say over the years I am amazed at the number of people who I have discovered were also there, two of whom I worked beside for nearly 20 years.

I thought of including their stories in the ones I have written over the years, but those belong to them.

Location; The Isle of Wight

Pictures; today’s reminder of yesterday, the poster, 1970, me in 1970 from the collection of Andrew Simpson and at the Festival, 1970, Roland Godefroy,who granted permission to use the image  under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 

*Isle of Wight Festival, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Isle%20of%20Wight%20Festival

The one you don’t send home …. picture postcards from the seaside

I am guessing you could make out a convincing case for why these cards were just a representation of surfers on an Australian beach in 1914.

They come with the explanation on the reverse that the six are different depictions of surf bathing.

“The surf bathing at the beautiful seaside results, mainly, Coogee, Bondi and others near Sydney is almost all the year round the chief recreation among those who stay there.  

It can be indulged in without fear of injury from the sharks that infest these seas, if the bathers are content to disport themselves in the breakers and do not venture into the deep seas”.

Alas only three of the six made it into the collection, and none of them have messages on the back, that said the packaging and the commercial information did, and is a nice touch.

I especially like the guide to what Tuck and Son thought would be popular that year, ranging from their "Wide World" Series to the Charles Dickens Centenary with "Two Thousand Collections" in between.

And they are a reminder that the company was international with offices across the world and subject matter from all but one of the Continents.

All of that said I wonder if the appeal of them might be that there isn't a sea gull, a kiss me quick hat or a bag of seaside chips to be seen.

Just a group of young "things" enjoying the surf together, which some maiden aunts might not approve, nor some mothers who might wish for a scene of the cliffs.

But then that is me falling into the assumption of how morality stalked the holiday resorts, and I don't think it did. 

Location; Australia

Pictures; Surf Bathing, 1914, from Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/ 

The one we missed in Leicester ….. from 1926

You may have to kiss a lot of toads before you meet your Prince/Princess Charming, and in the same way as a tourist in Leicester you do come across a shed load of dreary buildings before happening on one you like.

And I like the De Montford Hall which ranks alongside the Guild Hall, the Museum and a heap of delightful old buildings down those twisty turney streets which Leicester still does well.

We never got as far as the Hall, so I have brought out my picture from 1926 from the collection and added the one from Google maps.

Of course, I would never as a tourist presume to write about its history to people who live there.

But I couldn’t resist lifting this from the back of the picture postcard, “De Montford Hall, erected by the Corporation of Leicester in 1913 at a cost of £21,000”.

To which a Mr. Law added to his daughter in Rhyl “Still here but I am going home tomorrow to see Mummy”.

And that is it, other than to thank Tuck DB for giving permission to use the card from their collection and of course Leicester for some handsome places to write about.

Location; Leicester

Picture; De Montford Hall, Leicester, 1926, from Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/  and in 2018 courtesy of Google Maps

 

The Knitting years .... number 1 balaclavas and other hats

Now I bet not everyone will claim that a collection of knitting patterns is a bit of a history book.

But if you have enough of them, then I rather think you have some of the story of the middle decades of the 20th century.

I say middle decades because our Jillian who collects the knitting patterns has them from the 1930’s through to the ‘70’s and she roams the charity shop chains with a mission not only to save these knitting patterns but press them back into use.

I should know I will soon be the proud owner of a jumper with a zip and collar and dancing reindeers in brown and red.  She made the original for me in 1970 and I am looking forward to the new one.

But back to the patterns, for here contained on the front covers are how we dressed during the age before online shopping and cheap supermarket clothes.

They include balaclava, and other hats, woollen toys and of course the cable jumper.

So over the next few days I shall be rummaging through our Jillian’s collection and wait for the gasps of “I had that”  “Mine was green” or “Oh God did I really wear that?”and when the series is over there is always my stories about wool shops.*

And there is just one more delight in these old knitting patterns, and that is the game of hunt the famous British actor when they were waiting for the big break and instead had their picture taken with a nice “cardy”.

Our Jillian has one of Roger Moore which is looking for as I type, and he might well find one of my old mate Joe when in between classes at Art school he too wore a selection of woollen jumpers.

Location; pretty much everywhere

Picture; knitting patterns, 1930-1970 from the collection of Jillian Goldsmith

*The Wool Shop, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=The+Wool+Shop

Picking a municipal bus company and travelling across the city in 1963

Cover of Maps of Manchester & District, 1963

Now I am looking at a copy of the 1963 Manchester bus routes which my friend David has passed on to me.

Like me he was one of those that never went to a grammar school and recalled that

“I went to St Gregory's Technical High School in Ardwick Green from 1960-1967.

And because it was over 3 miles from Chorlton I was awarded a free bus pass...Joy of Joys, and could travel freely anywhere I liked in school hours for free.

Not that I did - but it did allow me to experiment with the various routes to Ardwick Green from the stop near Chorlton Baths.

I finally ended up using the fastest way - the 81 or 82 to Brooks Bar, and then the 53,  a great route known as the 'banana' service because " they came in bunches"  and from Greenheys the 123 to Ardwick Green.”

Now all of this reminded me that even the humble guide to the City’s bus routes comes with a story and opens up a fascinating glimpse into that not so distant past.

Back then according to another friend there were bus loads of students crisscrossing the city.

And like David many were in receipt of a free bus pass.  I too briefly had access to the same although in my case it was a season ticket for the train to travel from Well Hall to New Cross and back again.

Of course the sting in the tail was that they could only be used in term time and during school hours which rather limited the opportunity to boldly go and explore to the outer limits of the Corporation’s bus routes.

Detail of bus routes in and around Chorlton

But they were just another part of that welfare provision which some today frown upon.

Looking again at that bus guide is to follow long forgotten routes, and be reminded that the early 60s was still a time when a lot more people relied on public transport or did it themselves on a push bike.

The scenes outside all our big factories at clocking off time were characterised by people cycling home or waiting to catch one of the long line of buses parked up waiting for the evening rush.

And here there was a bewildering choice. Running through Chorlton there was the 80, 81, 82, 85,  and 94 along with the 41 and 43 all of which went into town.

Stevenson Square December 1966

There was also cross routes including the 16, 22, and 62 and it was possible to travel by bus into Chorltonville up to Rye Bank Road and out to Firswood.

The network also provided for more connections and all of this ran alongside a regular train service from Chorlton into Central Station or out to Didsbury, Stockport and the Derbyshire hills.

It was a complex system which involved not only Manchester Corporation buses, but also those of Salford, Oldham, Ashton, smaller local authorities, and the North West Bus and Car Company.

And so beside  the distinctive red livery of Manchester and the blue and cream of Ashton there was the green of Salford and the green of the Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley and Dukinfield Joint Transport and Electricity Board along with the maroon and cream colours of Oldham.

Piccadilly with an Ashton-Under-Lyne trolley bus, 1960

For those of a certain disposition this was a wonderful cornucopia of municipal transport that made the car less essential and can only be dreamed of today and one that vanished at the end of the 1960s.

Ah I hear you say all of that is fine, but getting in a car at work and driving home with the radio to listen to is far superior than having to wait in the rain at the bus stop, fight for a seat and end up beside that rather boring chap from the end house whose sole topics of conversation revolve around pigeons and the poor performance of Huddersfield F.C.

All of which maybe so but I do miss the ease with which you could move around the city and so I shall revisit David’s 1963 bus route book and plan a few trips of my own, which may or may not have left me at ease in the company of that chap from the end house.

And that just leaves a correction and comment from, John Anthony Hewitt.

"Minor correction Andrew Simpson, the bus company mentioned was North Western Road Car Co., and they were based in Stockport. Other bus companies included LUT (Lancashire United Transport), Walkden and Ribble, Preston. Probably the longest bus route I rode departed from Victoria bus station in Salford, but was operated by MCTD, No.10, I think, to Liverpool via a zig-zag route crossing the East Lancs Road several times - Eccles, Worsley, Walkden, Newton-le-Willows, St Helens and a few other places long since forgotten. Like your friend David, I too had grown up in C-C-H and had a bus pass to St Greg's., 1956 - 1963, but my adventures in Greenheys were courtesy of trolley-bus 213 (later motor bus 123)".



Pictures; Maps of Manchester and District, Manchester Corporation, 1963, courtesy of David O’Reilly and Manchester Corporation trolley bus, Stevenson Square 1966,  © Alan Murray-Rust, geograph.org.uk Wikipedia Commons, Ashton-Under-Lyne Corporation trolley bus in Piccadilly, 1960,  from the collection of J.F.A.Hampson,  Museum of Transport, Wikipedia Commons

Walking Woolwich and Eltham in 1948 … no 3

Now I back with my copy of the Official Guide to Woolwich which was published by the council.

It includes Eltham and Plumstead, and was the “Fifth Edition”.

I have no idea when it was issued but looking at the images and some of the listings we must be sometime between 1948 and the early years of the next decade.

And today's offering come from the drive for better and affordable housing for all.

So that is it, and I shall continue till I run out of pictures.

Location; The Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich, circa 1948

Pictures; Woolwich and Mottingham from The Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich, circa 1948

Secrets from a Chorlton grave yard ……

I am looking at the remains of a clay pipe dating from around 1831.

King William lV pipe 1831-37

I can be fairly confident of that date because 1831 was the year of the coronation of William lV and our pipe carries a reference to that coronation.

The mystery is how it got to be in the graveyard.  Eric of Needham Avenue will be quick to advance outlandish explanations, but I suspect it was just lost or thrown away, but could of course belong to one of our gravediggers.

It was found along with a selection of coins, tokens, buttons  and a ring during a series of archaeological digs, not long before the graveyard was landscaped.

The dig in 1981

Now the trouble with archaeological digs is that for most of us they look just like a jumble of unconnected holes in the ground with a few bits of stone poking up out of the earth.

Which pretty much seems to be the case from this picture taken in 1981 of the old parish church during the dig conducted by Angus Bateman

He began “some exploratory and very amateurish digs, at weekends, intermittently between October 1970 and August 1972” * and concluded he needed to gain more experience in running a dig and to this end enrolled in a course in archaeology at Manchester University.  

The subsequent 1977 dig formed the project for that certificate and led on to further digs culminating in the 1980-81 season which was carried out with South Trafford Archaeological Group.

The graveyard, 2012

The excavations and the subsequent research undertaken by Angus have helped with an understanding of the two churches which stood on the site from about 1512 till 1949 and a possible dating sequence for the extension of the graveyard in the early nineteenth century.  

The fragments from the later church were carefully analysed and recorded and in some cases Angus was able to track the manufacturers, some of whom were still trading in the 1970s.  He also undertook a very detailed record of all the gravestones, including an analysis of the style and composition of the inscriptions and some work on the light they threw on life expectancy amongst the young in the township.

Location; Chorlton Graveyard

Pictures; the fragment of the King William lV pipe from the collection of Angus Bateman, the dig in 1981 from the Lloyd Collection and the graveyard in 2012 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

* Bateman, Angus J., Excavations and Other Investigations at Old St Clements Church Yard Chorlton Manchester 1977, Report of work done in part fulfilment of the Certificate Course in Methods of Archaeology, Extra-mural Department, University of Manchester, held by South Trafford Archaeological Group

Charting a tempestous time ......... the cartoons of David Low 1945-53

Low Visibility, 1953

A political cartoon has a short life.

What was relevant, funny and to the point will quickly become quite incomprehensible and unless you have the historical knowledge to unlock it, the  message will just be an image with no meaning.

Now I was reminded of this when I came back across a copy of Low Visibility which is a collection of cartons produced by David Low between 1945 and 1953.

The book contains 149 cartoons mainly focusing on foreign affairs and covering everything from the immediate post war period to the growing tensions between the Soviet Union and the West and taking in conflicts in the Middle East, and the Far East as well as Britain’s response  to the demands for colonial independence.

Some are completely lost to me and will only offer up their message through serious research.

The Verdict, October 1 1946

Others I do understand even if the subtle nuisances of what was being said are still vague and a few leap out of the page and make complete sense.

Of these last few the ones on the future of a defeated Germany and plight of the millions of displaced people are very clear, as does the powerful comment on the Nuremberg Trials.

Verdict was published on October 1 1946 after the Nazi leadership had been found guilty and sentenced to be hanged, and while today it might be difficult to identify each of the condemned men their bowed heads in front of those they murdered is a powerful comment now as it was back them.

Pictures; cover from Low Visibility, 1953 and Verdict, 1946

* Low Visibility A Cartoon History, 1945-53, David Low, 1953

Walking Woolwich and Eltham in 1948 … no 2

 I am back with my copy of the Official Guide to Woolwich which was published by the council.

It includes Eltham and Plumstead, and was the “Fifth Edition”.

 

I have no idea when it was issued but looking at the images and some of the listings we must be sometime between 1948 and the early years of the next decade.

 And over the next two days I shall concentrate on some of the images from the book and leave it at that.

 The observant will clock that many of the pictures are attributed to Wells of Woolwich, while in the second post the motorbikes in the picture were for “Export”, which in the cash strapped immediate post war years was a vital way of earning money.

 So that is it, and I shall continue till I run out of pictures.

 Location; The Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich, circa 1948

 Pictures; Industrial Woolwich, from The Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich, circa 1948

 

“Two pieces of cod, and some shrimps” ……. shopping for fish on Wilbraham Road

Now, we do still have independent food shops, but there aren’t many of them.

So here from sometime in the early 1980s, is the wet fish shop on Wilbraham Road.

I have no idea exactly when I took the two pictures but judging from the tree, it will have been winter.

At first, I thought it might have been Mac Fisheries, but this was further up the road closer to the bank, and anyway may have closed by the time I took the picture.

This shop was which was Inshore Fisheries was at 482 Wilbraham Road and the place still sells fish although it trades as Out of the Blue.


And as you do, I went looking for references to Inshore Fisheries, and found a wholesale company of that name, which operates across the north.

I know that our shop was doing the business in 1969 and with a bit of research should be able to establish when they opened and when it changed its name.

Of course, given that they were there in the early 1980s, there will be people who remember them and can tell me some stories.

But for now, I am equally intrigued by the shop owned by Mac Fisheries, which was at 468 Wilbraham Road.

 It was part of a chain of fish shops started by Lord Leverhulme in 1918, whose original plan had been to purchase the Isle of Lewis and resurrect the Scottish fishing industry, using the island to land fish from the fleets and then move them to Fleetwood where the fish would be processed and then sold in his shops.

The plan was later centered on another island and proved successful with the company buying up independent fishmongers to create chain.

By the 1970s the business was less profitable and in 1979, the company was sold on and the fish shops closed within months.

All of which leaves me with the shop that survived, and a hope that someone might recognize themselves in the pictures and get in touch.

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; shopping for fish on Wilbraham Road, circa 1980s, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

One museum …. a posh walk …. and the picture I never took

Well actually it was a series of pictures, of which New Walk and the entrance to your museum were two of them.

What is worse is that I thought I had, so as part of the continuing contribution to stories from a tourist in Leicester, here is the museum in 1926 from a series produced by Tuck and Sin in 1926.

Eric of Knighton will sniffly comment that “it don’t look much different” and that is the point.

That said I bet it wasn’t as exciting inside in 1926 as it is today.

We only had half an hour to spend there but it was fun.

Leaving me just to fall back on an image of the entrance from Google maps, which replaces the one I would have taken.

Location; New Walk, Leicester

Picture;  The Museum, Leicester, 1926, from Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/  and in 2018 courtesy of Google Maps

False dawns…. promising leads ……. the search for Glenton Tours goes on

Glenton Tours was a coach company at the luxury end of the market offering high class trips across Britain and the Continent from the 1920s into the late part of the 20th century.*

Luggage label, undated

And I have gone looking for their story, partly because they were the backdrop to my life in Peckham and later Eltham and because Dad worked for them for 50 years from 1932 till he retired.

Dad and the courier, Elizabeth, undated

In the summer he drove their coaches to the Lakes and into Scotland as well as France, the Low Countries, Switzerland, and Italy.

In the winter he worked in the garage off Brabham Grove, and later in Charlton.  So linked were they with Peckham that when the garage was demolished and replaced by a housing development it was called Glenton Mews.

Their head office was 397 Queens Road and as well as the offices in New Cross they had a West End office at 109 Jermyn Street.

From the 1965 brochure

I have written about them over the years but recently I have also become aware of just what a presence they had on our family.**

Last week I came across a newspaper account of the company from 1983 which had been reissued in Commercial Motor Archive and my interest was reignited.

Undated

Glenton’s had been owned by an estate agent in New Cross called Saxton, and today I went looking for them.

The good news was that the firm still exists, but the bad news is that they were bought out leaving me to wonder where next to go.

One lead is an employee of the old company who may get back to me tomorrow, and there are always other routes which I am convinced will yield results.

And on the way I will reveal a bit more about the people dad worked for, from Elizabeth a courier, Frank, Taffy and Wishy Washy who worked in the garage and the Saxton family.

We shall see.

Location southeast London

Brochure, 1951

Pictures; Glenton Tours memorabilia from the Simpson collection

Grindelwald, undated

* 1951 ....... a Glenton Tour brochure and a window on a world we have lost, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2019/06/1951-glenton-tour-brochure-and-window.html

**Glenton Tours, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Glenton%20Tours

Another of Chorlton in the mid 1980s

Now sticking with pictures of Chorlton’s recent history, here is another from the camera of Tom McGrath taken in 1985.

It speaks for itself but if you want the original story it is From Temperance snooker hall to a Wetherspoon's pub.

And then you can wander off to follow up on Temperance Halls or  Chorlton in the 1980s.


Picture;  by Tom McGrath

A little bit of Waterloo in Woolwich

Now I wonder if Mr John Holliday spent his evenings telling friends about his part at the Battle of Waterloo.

I came across him purely by chance when I was researching something else, but his death was significant enough to have been recorded in the Manchester Guardian which recorded that he died “at his residence in St Mary-street, Woolwich on Thursday September 25th, aged 92 years.  

He served in the Royal Artillery during the war with the First Napoleon and was engaged with his battery on the field of Waterloo.”*

I know that he was in the detachment of Captain Hutchesson's Company and he was awarded the Waterloo medal.

And that for now is pretty much it.

He had been born in Norfolk in 1787 and by 1841 was living on Powis Street and worked as a bricklayer.

He was still there at number 14 Powis Street a decade later sharing his house with his son who was thirty and a Elizabeth Brown.

In time there might be more.

He is missing from the 1861 and 71 census and I know that in 1879 he was on St Mary-street.

So it is all still to play for.

Location; Waterloo & Woolwich

Pictures; The Battle of Waterloo: The British Squares Receiving the Charge of the French Cuirassiers, Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux, 1874 and The artillery in Battle of Waterloo June 18, 1815, George  Jones 1816 

*Manchester Guardian, September 30, 1879.

Saving that bit of Chorlton’s history for another century and a bit …..

For many the Lych Gate on the village green is one of the iconic images of where we live.

Meeting at the Lych Gate, circa 1900

It has stood at the entrance to the old parish burial graveyard since 1887 and was erected to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Jubilee.

And long after the parish church was abandoned and demolished and most of the gravestones carted away it stood as a reminder that this was the spot where most of Chorlton were baptised, married, and finally buried stretching back into the 17th century.

But this listed building is now in need of some tender care and attention.

It last had a make over in 1993 when the bell tower “was repaired with specialist Victorian tiles from Staffordshire”. *

Repairing the Lych Gate, 1993

The need to revisit the building was raised by Andrew Simpson and Peter Topping earlier in the year as part of a bigger initiative to restore the former parish graveyard.

Looking towards the graveyard, 1981

Suggestions included relocating the remaining gravestones, creating a ramp at the southern entrance, and a series of story boards which would explain the history and significance of the site.

Central to the plan would be the establishment of a Friend’s group of volunteers who would adopt the graveyard, and in partnership with the City Council look to maintain the place and look to its future.

To this end Andrew and Peter contacted Cllr Mathew Benham who organised several meetings with Neighbourhood Services and the plan for the Friend’s group is advancing.

And now there is an application in for “fabric repairs and redecoration of the Lych Gate and boundary wall”.**

The application from the City Council to do the work was submitted in May and is now out for consultation, and you can see the plans in detail by following the link below.

There will be many who will greet the news with great pleasure.

The Lych Gate, 1980

Some, because the Lych Gate is a special part of  Chorlton while for many others it will be the memories of hearing the bell at New Year or from illicit games in the tower. 

An arch and a heap of gravestones, 2023

And for those who would like to join this exciting project there is now a Facebook site which will feature regular updates and contributions from those who want to see the graveyard continue as a focus for our history into the next century and a bit.***

Leaving me just say the report of the 1990s repairs needs a tad correction, because the gate dates from 1887 not 1897 and the church was demolished in 1949 not 1930.

Location; Chorlton Green

Pictures; The Lych Gate, circa, 1900 from the Lloyd Collection, Target Tower Repairs, South Manchester Express and Advertiser, 1993, and pictures of the Rec, 1980, 1981, and 2023 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Target Tower Repairs, South Manchester Express Advertiser, April 8, 1993

**Listed building consent for fabric repairs and redecoration of the Lych Gate and boundary walls, 136990/LO/2023, Manchester City Council Planning Portal, https://pa.manchester.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=RURB6TBCJOG00

***The Friends of Chorlton Graveyard, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1381914932356270  

A gate ….. a lost spire …… and the bit we missed

 When you are a Leicester tourist you will miss something.

St Mary's Gateway, 1926

And we did, which was St Mary’s Gate, Castle View and the Church.

That said we had packed a lot into the Saturday morning, and it was raining.

I don’t think we had even clocked that there had been a castle or that there was a gate we could walk through to access St Mary’s Church.

St Mary's Gateway, 2020

Although we did happen by accident on a stretch of Castle View, saw a bit of the church but alas moved on.

All of which was only revealed when I dipped back into my collection of Leicester Tuck picture postcards which date from the 1920s.

I raid them on occasion for scenes of the city long before now, and so here is St Mary’s Gate perhaps 20 or so and bit years before I was born.

I could at this point slide into the history of the gate, the church and the castle, but that would be arrogant.

After all I am but a tourist and those that live in the city will be well aware of their past, but I will quote the description from the back of the postcard which includes the Romans, King Lear and the stocking frame.

Castle View and the church, 2019

“St Mary’s Gateway. A fine view of the battered and time worn gateway with the noble spire of St. Mary’s beyond.  

The old walls and gateways carry us back to the ancient history of Leicester.  

The traditional residence of King Lear and his daughters, it was a fortified town under the Romans.  

Its modern prosperity dates from the introduction of the stocking frame (1686) and is now the centre of the hosiery trade”.

‘Nuff said.

Other than to observe St Mary's spire was taken down for safety reasons but everyone in Leicester will know that.

St Mary's Church, 1926

Location, Leicester

Pictures; St Mary’s Gateway (Roman), Leicester, From the collection of Tuck and Son, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/  and the scene in 2020, courtesy of Google Maps

So was that Luxembourg? ............... holidays by hotel labels in the 1950s

Now I don’t even know if hotels still give away suitcase labels.

If they don’t that is a shame because I am sitting beside some of the ones my dad collected in his years as a coach driver and they are fascinating

Not that he ever stuck them on his suit cases, he just brought them home which may have been an earlier version of the tourist habit of collecting the soap and shampoo from the bathroom.

He was at the luxury end of the motor holiday trade and his passengers would whisked on a seven, nine or fifteen day tour of mainland Europe from the Benelux countries as far as the Swiss Alps and the Italian Lakes.

They would be fed and accommodated at good hotels, provided with a first class guide and had time off to wander as they wished.

But it was a fairly rigid timetable which has often prompted me to think if you dozed off or looked away long enough from the window you might well have missed an entire country.

It is not my idea of a holiday but was so successful that it kept Glenton Tours going from the 1920s well past the time Dad retired in 1982.

That said it was still a wonderful way of seeing new places allowing you to get a sense of what  made each country and town along the way that little bit different.

Today most of us just get on a plane and with in a couple of hours have arrived at the destination,  having spent the entire journey ordering a drink, wrestling with a packet of peanuts and pondering on what to buy from "the onboard offers."

Only after the bags have been collected and passport control completed do you get a sense of where you are which even then may be some what muted by the long wait for the holiday tour bus to fill up and set off.

All of which makes me think that the fifteen day coach holiday to the Italian Lakes, taking in a bit of France, lots of Luxembourg and Bellgium and northrn Italy has some merit.

And so for no other reason than I haven’t looked at these labels for half a century I shall post a few a week, and in the fullness of time will go looking for each of the hotels.

Pictures; hotel labels from the 1950s, from the collection of Andrew Simpson